The Great War Nations: Wind
by Nianai Bell Nezumi
Summary: When a group of ninjas are found in Konoha's border it looks like the the Konoha 11 will have to save Konoha, again. So much for free time... Action/adventure/romance...Mult pairing; you'll figure it out.
1. Chapter 1: Just Another Day

_A/N; I do not own naruto just this pot and the random guys._

_Enjoy!_

_XxXxXxXxXxXx_

_The Great War Nations: Book one War against the Wind_

Chapter 1

'Just Another Day in Kohona'

Creeping within the shade and protection of the Fire Country leafy trees, four rather young chunnin's leaping through the trees, all quiet, just wanting for this mission to be over with. A young woman, with two traditional Chinese buns pinned atop her dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, was almost visibly fuming from the fact being torn away from a sparring match she was having with her former pale eyed teammate, for something so trivial. Something that a she'd though was a big deal _seven_ years ago. Now it was annoying when she could be training and developing new techniques with one longhaired teammate. Said dark haired, pale-eyed partner was currently dashing beside the bun-haired girl, also unhappy about these turns of events though he hid his disappointment behind his cool façade that he had always worn since he was little. A little behind the seething pair was a brown pineapple-shaped haired guy with lazy dark brown eyes, who mumbled that his troublesome female leader, the fifth hokage, would pay for this troublesome mission that even a simple genin could handle with ease. Right now he could be lounging with Chouji staring at some fluffy white clouds. Or even trying to teach Ino Shougi was better than this? Patrolling the Hidden Leaf's borders and picking up some sake for the hokage was a simple enough mission. Why was he being asked to do such a troublesome thing?

Slightly ahead of the three ninja's was a pink haired kunoichi who actually hadn't minded the sudden distraction. Her jade green eyes flashed at the memory of what had conspired just hours earlier at the hospital where she trained. She didn't want to be there with the family of the sibling shinobi's that had just died. A sharp stab of pain coursed through her as she thought of those two deathly pale faces. Instead of facing it she closed her eyes to the memory and focused on the sounds of the deep forest surrounding her.

The pink haired girl, Sakura, eyes shot open when she felt a strong unfamiliar presence of chakra. She couldn't tell where it was. So she closed her eyes again and focused her mind. Searching through the deep forest she knew so well she found what she was looking for. The chakra was centered about ten yards to her left. Apparently Neji had felt it to because he stopped suddenly causing the non-attentive Shikamaru to crash into the Bakuygan user. Tenten just stopped quickly, quite used to her former partner's unpredictable movements of the Hyuuga.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the stoic Hyuuga, asking him the silent question, _'How many"?_

Pushing the lazy genius off of him and straitening his shirt with a grimace and no emotion in his white eyes he replied, "About seventy maybe eighty."

Shikamaru's dark eyes rolled to the side as he muttered under his breath, 'troublesome.'

Tenten, who was now over her anger and now worrying over Neji, Sakura and even Shikamaru's safety said, "We should pull back, Sakura, they haven't detected us yet and besides, we need to report this to Tsuande."

Sakura shook her head, her stubbornness getting the better of her, even though she knew Tenten was right. "I'm going to go check it out. Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten please back me up?"

Shikamaru and Neji both just nodded but Tenten bit her bottom lip, unsure of the situation. Eighty to four? That was like having twenty to one! Those weren't the kind of odds she liked to fight against.

Sakura looked at Tenten with pleading eyes; she knew that Tenten couldn't resist those eyes.

Tenten let her head drop and sighed, "Fine."

Sakura smiled warmly, "Thanks Tenten!"

This time Tenten grumbled, "Welcome."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Masking her chakra signature, Sakura leapt to the left of the tree branch she was on and began to sneak closely to the huge poorly masked group of people. Being in charge of this mission she had directed everyone to a certain sectors. Shikamaru was the farthest away nearly across from her. Neji was to her left and Tenten was to her right. She gave them directions to the group and gave them the signal to move out. She could almost hear everyone's thought's. _Troublesome- _Shikamaru, _idio_t_-_ that would be Mr. Happiness himself, Neji and then _why'd I agree to this_? - Tenten

Hearing loud voices and smelling burnt food she slowed down, the others in her group following her actions simultaneously.

Peering down from her spot on the branch Sakura glanced down into a small-crowed clearing.

Below sat about seventy (just as Neji had predicted) ninja's talking among themselves. Some were split into small groups, others in throwing kunai's in mock spar's, and other's eating. Several small fire pits were lit around the larger of the groups, illuminating the tightly packed clearing. The gold red firelight covered the ninja's in a surreal deadly glow. But the reflection of the fire on the ninja's headbands caught Sakura's eye. She leaned in curiously and squinted her eyes trying to get a better look. In effort her foot slipped forward causing her to stumbled and dig her nails into the tree. Sakura let go of her breath and returned her focus to the headbands. Neji's Bakyugan would sure come in handy right about now. Finally she made out the symbols of a music note. Wait that meant the, sound was here? Her green eyes widen in shock as she frantically searched around the rest of the clearing, more Sounds, Wind's and the Sand? Wait didn't Naruto convince Gaara that they were all on the same side? And when Gaara had stepped up to power in the sand village everything had been semi smooth sailing. What is he doing with these rouges?

Her green eyes flashed to meet two sets of dark brown and white.

All had the same expression planted on there eyes, stunned.

Unconsciously Sakura grasped her kunai in her hand, chakra enveloping it. She didn't even realize it but the weapon soon bent it with her super strength and anger.

*Back in Konoha*

The fifth hokage sat staring with wide eyes and jaw slightly agape at the figure looming in front of her. He stood calmly; hand on his long sword, eyes blank, emotionless.

There was no way in hell that this was happening to her now. They hadn't heard anything about this rouge in six years. Now he shows up, saying virtually nothing and apologizing in his own odd way. Tsuande needed that sake from Sakura's mission and quickly. She needed her apprentice with her now for this. She lowered her head on top of her hands in deep thought. Her blonde pigtails fell in front of her face and brandy colored eyes covering it completely. A thought crossed her mind almost immediately.

Looking up she called out to her aide Shinze, "Bring me Uzumaki!"

The dark rouge ninja in front of her eyes flashed in shock. "No."

Tsuande smirked.

_Oh yes_.

*Forest*

Tenten was pissed. Actually that was an understatement. She was about ready to walk up to Gaara and use that little killer insomniac as moving target practice. She'd never been after a kakazge before. How could Gaara do this! After all that had happened. Tenten glanced at Sakura. The poor pink haired girl looked like she was about to murder that little red head too. She was shaking uncontrollably; her face was even blank she was so shocked. Tenten knew that Sakura was about to break, it had been several years since the whole Sasuke fiasco, and still Sakura wasn't over it. After he left Sakura had searched for a refuge. In the end she had turned to the kunochi of the Leaf as her way to cover her loneliness she felt, with Sasuke gone and Naruto working all the time. With Ino's fascination with gossip and Hinata's quiet demeanor Sakura had gone to Tenten who in turn had quickly become the older sister she never knew. And because of that Tenten knew Sakura wasn't strong enough for another betrayal. Maybe if she called out to Sakura she could wake her up from her trance? Neji had glanced over at Tenten as her body tensed and was just about to open her mouth to call to out. Instinctively his hand shot out to lightly grip Tenten's small shoulders. Her dark brown eyes shot over to his light ones. In his own way he comforted her and she understood. She slowly shifted her herself back on her heels and Neji relaxed beside her. They both glanced down at the clearing to see what was going on.

A loud yell filled the clearing as a tall bulky man dressed in gray and black oversized jacket covered in silver ties over his throat, upper and lower left arm, on his chest and his right leg, stepped forward. He wore a mask similar to Kakashi's that only allowed one eye to peek through. His one visible eye was a dead light gray orb. And unfortunately only one emotion flared in them: anticipation.

"Quiet!"

All the smaller groups stopped talking and turned to the man speaking, he was obviously the leader of this organization. Beside him two other ninja's stood poised. The one on his left was a Wind Nin while the one on his right bore the music note of the sound. Sakura searched for a head band on the leader but found none and only saw the cold glimmer in his eye that made her shiver. This man must be pure evil.

"Ninja! You are all here for a many different reasons; because of you're loyalty to me or because of some sum of money, or for the majority, the hatred of those cowards, the Leaf Village." He began. With each reason for their loyalty a few murmurs rose in agreement. His voice was sickly cold, a steel piece meant to strike anyone who dared to challenge his authority. It was a deep dark tenor effectively reflecting his outwards appearances. As his speech went on it was met with many yells of approvement. "But meeting here in this place, this is the only the first step to our revenge and to the power and recognition you all deserve. We must attack, as it is our time to strike now! Join with me ninja's who now disown your villages. Let us get revenge on those Leaf scums, who have made a mockery of 'saving us' when we are more than capable of defending ourselves. Let us show them what power they are dealing with." He paused and gave a devilish smirk. "And besides, who doesn't want to pay back our little traitorous friend? We don't need him to gain some allies, do we?" An even louder cry erupted from the crowd. Sakura frowned, she was curious as to who the traitor was and why these idiots were attacking Kohona. They had protected these lands and they had made peace with them at least with their leaders, so what was going on?

Interested in the unfolding drama below she leant over to better hear what he was saying.

"Everyone prepare, for at dawn we extract our revenge!" The cold voice bellowed dramatically.

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat as she glared at the gigantic ninja below her. There was no way in hell she was going to allow that to happen! Not while she was still Haruno Sakura. She began to conjure up a plan. First they had to notify the hokage, ASAP. Which meant they had to leave now. She motioned to the rest of her team she held up two fingers and pointed towards their home.

But when she turned to move she was frozen in her tracks. Her body involuntarily broke out into a cold sweat as she grasped at her throat, trying to breathe. The world was turning black and she was losing oxygen. Her head was pounding horribly as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the pain.

**Nun-un! No way am I going down like this**.

What's going on? Is this a gensitsu? Her mind was swirling dangerously; she knew she had to get out of here.

A loud murmur rose from the crowd below.

The cold tenor voice from earlier spoke up icily, "What is it Noritjusa Kiminio?"

A new slightly higher pitched voice irritably stated, "I don't know."

But in a darker growl he added, "But I intend to find out."

Oh no, got to get out of here, Sakura thought desperately.

But when she tried to move, she found out that she was paralyzed, from fear or the gensitsu she didn't know. This was just too much like in the Forest of Death with him.

**Get a grip Sakura** she berated herself, **you are not some naïve little graduate anymore you're the hokage's apprentice, now move it.**

But when she felt like her body would finally move a cold silver dagger slid in front of her neck and the Kiminio's voice spoke slyly. "And what do we have here?"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Haha my first cliff hanger. I would of made the chapter longer, but I think the rest of the chapter is better where it is now. It was an okay bit, i guess.

So anyways, I suppose that was okay, but I like my other chapters a lot better. I have four others written and I'm just typing upchapter five now. I'm just going to post the first chap up until I get some feedback. And if you are reading Nicknames I am so sorry bout the slow updates, I'll try to speed it up a bit, no promises though.

Take it away Tenten!

Tenten- so stay tune for chapter 2 of the Great War Nations: Book 1

Neji- don't forget to review. (oh yeah forgot about that* oops*-Tenten.)


	2. Chapter 2: What are You doing here?

AN: same disclaimer as chapter 1. Okay you guys, I saw a ton of hits but no reviews! Maybe you'll like this chapter better, remember no flames just helpful constructive critiscm.

Chapter 2

'Why Are You Here?'

Uzumaki Naruto stomped grudgingly towards the hokages tower where Tsunade waited to tell him 'interesting news that would appeal even more than spending time with Hinata' where her exact words according to Ino who was sent with the message from the Hokage herself. Three years ago Naruto had finally asked Hinata out on a date, with a little push from his closest guy friend. Surprisingly enough that happened was Kiba. When Naruto had gotten over the initial shock of finding Sasuke gone, Kiba had been helpful. The dog-boy had (god-forbid) matured over the years after being promoted to Chunnin (which had surprisingly mellowed the rowdy boy out somewhat) Kiba had made peace with Naruto. The two had grown like brothers and once Kiba finally realized that his former teammate Hinata had a long standing crush on Naruto he had pushed aside his own crush on his teammate and tried to push the two together with some not to subtle hints. But the two just didn't get it so with the help of Sakura had finally convinced them to go on a date. That had been three years ago. The two had been inseparable ever since. But that was beside the point.

As Naruto made his way over to Tsuande's office he fished inside of his pocket. His fingers brushed against as mall velvety box. And inside that box was a simple band with one simple diamond on it. Sure it had taken almost six months of B and C level ranked mission for him to even purchase the simple item. He had been carrying it around in his pocket for a month trying to find the perfect moment to propose to Hinata. But the time never seemed to present itself. It just never felt right without teme to call him a loser and a dobe for marrying. Besides they were only eighteen, they still had their whole lives ahead of them.

Naruto stopped in the middle of the street and through his head back and groaned. Why did Tsunade decide _now _to summon him? There was so much he needed to think over. And on top of all his other troubles he was worried about Sakura! A simple little errand like the one they were assigned to shouldn't be taking this long. The mission couldn't be _that_ hard. Naruto just shrugged, Sakura could take care of herself if anything happened. Besides she had backup, Shikamaru, Neji and Tenten. He continued on the dirt road. They'd all be okay he assured himself. But that didn't mean Naruto didn't worry about his 'sister'.

Reaching Tsuande's door Naruto gave the door one hard knock before flinging it open and barging in. Storming up to his leader and narrowing his eyes the blond boy growled, "Alright grandma, what do you want? I was having such a good time with Hinata!"

Tearing her eyes away from her totaled door she starred unwavering to Naruto. She cleared her throat and began, "Umm, Naruto there's something you should…"

"What? Can't it wait?" He interrupted rudely.

"So, you finally hooked up with Hinata after all. It took you long enough."

Sakura's breath came in short puffs. Her hands were slowly clenching and unclenching, showing her nerves were just about frayed. They were cold and clammy and her stomach wasn't much better off. It was twisting from fear and as an after effect of the gensistu. Speaking of that stupid attack, how could she be so easily caught? Had she'd learned nothing from Tsuande-sama? Sakura had been known for her stealth almost as well as she was known for her strength. She couldn't always depend on others to save her behind; eventually she'd have to stick up for herself. Which meant getting herself out of sticky situations.

The man behind her breath was hot and sickly but at the same time it was oddly chilling against her exposed throat. His cold voice wrought throughout Sakura's body.

"Ah you're a kuniochi, eh?"

The man brought his free hand up to her headband, studying the symbol intently; moving it so he could better read it. The fire must have caught it just right because Sakura could almost feel the man smile.

"Oh, even better, you're a little Leaf kuniochi. And what, may I ask, is you're purpose, sending you so far away from home?" His head turned to the side as he called to his group below. "Fan out, more than likely, she isn't alone."

Sakura gasped, she wouldn't let these guys get her friends. Without even thinking she blurted out (rather coolly she hoped), "Don't bother, I came alone." To empathize her point she scoffed dramatically.

Kimini's head turned back towards Sakura, a disbelieving grin plastered onto his tanned face. "Oh really?"

He sniffed her hair and neck unflinchingly while Sakura felt chills race up and down her spine at the contact. "Then why is there more than one other's smell on you?" She tried to ignore both him and the uncomfortable feelings and focus her attention on her teammates. She really hopped that Tenten, Neji and Shikamaru had been smart enough to take her hint and head back to the village. After all that had been Tenten's original plan, and both Shikamaru and Neji were 'geniuses'. They needed to report to Tsuande and tell her of what was happening, maybe even bring some back up. Sakura forced her gaze everywhere but where her squadron might actually still lie. She wouldn't let them get caught if they were still there.

The chilling Kimini, still behind her and keeping the zero chance off escape grip grabbed her tighter (if that was even physically possible) and pulled her to the next lower branch with him. As he leapt down each individual branch Sakura squirmed even more trying to think how to get out of this predicament. Maybe if she reached slowly into her pouch she could grab a kunai and jab it through his cold hand or maybe she could use her in-human strength and break away. She played with these scenarios's that preoccupied her mind that she didn't even notice the shuriken come slicing through the air, flying towards her and her captor. That is not until the weapon made contact with its target and knock him backwards. Sakura was both relived and furious at Tenten but at the moment her happiness took control.

**Go Tenten! That's my girl with the perfect aim! Cha! **Her inner self cried.

Tenten should have left by now. But Sakura was sure glad she had stuck around to save her butt.

Taking advantage of Kimini's sudden distraction (a.k.a. the loose chokehold) Sakura let the charka flow through her body and tore the man's arms off her. Taken aback by the pink-haired girl's reaction, he misstep on his current tree branch causing his foot to slip slightly. Sakura with her charka infused fists, threw an uppercut to his covered chin and as he stumbled backwards she dropped down and swung her leg underneath him. While he tumbled back, cursing, Sakura rushed to her right, back towards Kohna.

Kimini held his check tenderly where the shuriken had left its mark. It was still bleeding profusely. He tore off some his pants hem and pressed it tightly to his face. He let out a hiss of pain and a fire smoldered behind his brown eyes. He was going to kill that little pink haired kuniochi. How could she escape his famous mind trap? "Damn her, that girl will pay as will the rest of her village!" he grounded out.

His leader stood menacingly before him glaring a hole into his bowed head. His only visible eye was seething. Waves of furry rolled off of him, although his demeanor showed nothing. Kimini twisted in fear of the older man; a red charka was burning around his body, yellow strands of his demonic side flaring up every now and then.

He let out a low demonic growl. "What, Kimini, do you suppose we _do _now that the pink haired girl and her teammates are running right back to Tsuande to destroy our little plot that if I may remind you we've worked on for three months? And you better have a damn good plan if you _plan_ on keeping your head."

Kimini looked up nervously and gulped. There weren't many people he was scared of but this man was _not_ to be messed with. "Um, I, I" His mind went into overdrive trying to think of a plan that would keep him alive. Then it hit him. "I shall take a group of about ten of our most trusted ninja's and cut the little Leaf ninja's off. Then I shall kill them, before the Leaf village knows what hit them."

The clothe-wrapped man turned his back to his apprentice and grounded out. "Fine, but do it quickly, quietly, and if it is necessary, painfully."

Kimini jerkily nodded his head, turned and signaled to a group of men to his left to follow him. They all nodded and ran after him to disappear into the night. As they speed off into the forest Kimini vowed to make sure that pretty pink haired girl's hair would no longer be pretty by the end of the night.

Sakura raced through the forest searching for her friends' charka signatures. That was just way to close for her comfort back there. She wanted to know they were all right. Closing her eyes she searched the darkening forest. There was nothing to her left, just some forest animals. Instead she focused straight in front of her and saw the distinctive threads of her friends. She looked to see any trace of a major wound on them but saw nothing. She let out a deep breath that she'd forgotten she had and smiled tentatively. Thank Kami they were all right. Just when she was about to let her guard slip there was a sudden strong flares a few meters behind her. As she took a closer look it was a match to the same chakra that was in the clearing. _Oh no_. Using some of the dwindling chakra reserve in her she picked up her speed and made a heated dash to her friends. Her legs were beginning to burn, as she was a few feet from them. She skid to a halt beside Shikamaru and wobbled as she tried not to let the momentum she built up knock her over. The lazy Jounin's arm shot out to steady her and then turned slightly to acknowledge her presence. Panting Sakura nodded her thanks to him before gulping down air as she turned to her two other teammates.

Neji was standing grumpily, with a worried frown, and arms crossed over his chest, scolding Tenten for leaving her position for a 'better shot' at the guy holding Sakura. Tenten just bowed her head slightly before him before shooting him a shy apologetic smile and hugging him. Neji's harsh demeanor left as it was replaced with a stunned dazed and slightly embarrassed emotions. He slowly draped his arm across her back; face still beat red.

Shikamaru let out a huge yawn and lifted his arms above his head, stretching, "They've been arguing since Tenten nailed that Kimini guy."

Sakura smiled at the two, when were they going to realize that relationship shouldn't be only teammates (_At least the only two sane teammates of Team Gai_.) Sure Sakura was happy for the two but now wasn't the time for Neji and Tenten's private little moment. There was a bunch of ninja on their way to try and stop them.

Crossing her arms and shifting her weight to her right foot Sakura spoke up. "Sorry to interrupt your moment, Tenten, Neji, but unfortunately there's a group of, oh, I'd say, about ten, or eleven ninja on their way over here and they should be arriving…"

She was cut off as a kunai sliced through her arm and a split second latter another hit her check.

Shikamaru (now fully awake) turned and yelled, "Now!"

Sakura gave a muffled cry before clutching at her arm, smearing bright red blood onto her calloused palm. Turning her head around, she took up a defensive crouch and grabbed several shurikens from her pouch. Spotting a ninja hurtling straight towards her she aimed and then flung them as hard as she could. Her attacker dodged it easily and unsheathed a huge blade that would have Tenten filled with jealousy. He raised the sword above his head and poised it for attack.

Shikamaru began several rapid hand movements before yelling out the words for his shadow possession justu. His own shadow morphed and twisted before shooting out to several oncoming ninja's and locking their shadow's with his. Shikamaru smirked before settling into a battle stance and pulling out his weapons. It'd been awhile since he'd tried this exact same technique on Kin during his first Chuunin exams. _This shouldn't be troublesome_ he thought sarcastically.

Meanwhile Neji had slightly stepped in front of Tenten and activated his Bakuygan blood limit while his teammate quickly searched for some scrolls. She knew Neji was just buying time for her to get ready, so she made the most of it. Neji let the chakra move to the tips of his fingers and began to see his own chakra strings glow. A small smirk played across his face as three huge sound ninja's made a dash to where he and his teammate where getting ready. With Tenten on her knees it must look like she was vulnerable and that Neji was trying to protect the weakest member of his team. Oh how wrong that was. Neji had seen many times before how strong Tenten was in battle. She was like a battle machine if anyone crossed her. He knew because more than once the onslaught of weapons had been directed at him. He knew that if she hadn't been put on the same team as a Huuyga genius and the two beautiful Kohan green beasts then she would have been a role model to others. But she didn't seem to mind being where she was. His smirk grew. Without taking his eyes off the target and heard her huff in accomplishment he yelled back over his shoulder to her, "You ready?"

"Ready, let's show them how weak these Leaf ninja's are." She responded

Couldn't of said it better himself.

Tenten had activated her scrolls with her blood and crouched down preparing to leap. As soon as Neji had begun to create his chakra ribbons she knew where this plan was heading. This was a new technique they had been working on for a week now and actually was what they were working on when they got the mission. Apparently Neji either thought that they were ready for show time or that these were pretty stupid ninjas. Either way it was now or never. She smiled and threw the scrolls high up into the sky before leaping up after them. She spun once, twice and then started collecting weapons. Below her she saw how Neji let his chakra wrap around a few ninja. They wore surprised expressions as the chakra looped itself around them. That was until Neji smirked (Tenten had know him long enough to know when he'd smirked) and brought his hands together and then apart the opposite way. All three ninja were brought together in the same way and as they shook off the pain of clashing together they looked up to see a parade of all different kinds of weapons.

Sakura was knocked to the ground as the Sand ninja clashed into her. She fell with a loud thud onto the compacted dirt, knocking the breath out of her. The medic ninja grunted in an unlady-like manner. She felt a warm sticky liquid bubbling up out of her throat. She turned to her side to spit the blood out. _Owww! _Her eyesight faded in and out a bit but she could still see her attacker was coming straight at her. The man let out a cold grin before shouting at her, "I wasn't finished with you yet, pinkie!"

Shikamaru flinched at the stupidity of the ninja attacking Sakura, really, _pinkie_? That's what you call her if you enjoy pain. That's almost as bad as calling Chouji fat. This was a troublesome Nin. Neji shook his head wistfully, if only he could watch the coming onslaught. Tenten just laughed out loud, that dude was so going to not be able to reproduce after this. So she watched her friend out of the corner of her eye while she flung a Shiriken at another ninja. This should be fun.

Sakura narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits as her inner self shouted, **Oh, no he didn't just call me pinkie. That's it this jerk is going to get it**. She braced herself for the ninja's impact as he jumped in front of her. She took a fighting stance that was unfortunately one moment to late as the much bigger ninja had landed a nice little punch straight to her stomach while the hilt of his sword crashed into the back of her knees causing her to loose her balance. Okay I've had it, that's it play time's over. Once again tossed to the forest floor she let out a large huff of air and stared to formulate an attack plan. The ninja didn't give her much time but it didn't matter once the ninja was looming over her she dug her chakra enhanced fist into the dirt. A second later the ground split and pulled the earth to do her biding. She wrapped the earth around the ninja before forcibly taking him off her and pinning him in the air. She allowed herself an arrogant moment before calling, "And that is what you get for calling me pinkie, asshole!" Satisfied with her work she turned to see the battle still raging on. She looked for anyway she could help but it seemed fate would have two twin waterfall ninja's charging straight at her. One had pulled out a large broad sword while the other had two scrolls in her hand. Sakura let out a sigh before muttering, "Shit."

But just as Sakura dropped into a battle stance, determined to kick their asses, pineapple shaped-haired male stepped in front of her. Shikamaru quickly released several well-aimed suriken with exploding notes attached to them and nailed the ninjas against a tree. Wow these ninja's _were_ stupid. Just for extra precaution, he made sure his exploding tags set off.

Looking lazily over his shoulder, he saw the torn expression on Sakura's face. She was debating wither or not to stay and fight or to warn their leader. So, Shikamaru decided for Sakura. "Sakura, go warn Tsunade, we'll take care of these guys." Sakura looked up gratefully at the Jounin before she nodded and sprinted away. On her way out she looked at her friends and pushed her leg faster, wanting to warn Tsunade as quickly as possible. The sunset behind her was streaked the sky with fiery reds and golden hues of yellow. Sakura ran faster than she ever had before.

*Konoha*

Approaching Tsunade's chamber door Sakura puffed out short spurts of air. Her heart felt like it was about to burst from over exertion and loss of chakra. Just before she'd been summoned by Shikamaru she'd been training intensely with Ino behind her house. They'd only been at it for an hour but the two kunochi were still pretty evenly matched. When Shikamaru had lazily strolled into the backyard of Ino's house with his arms resting comfortably behind his head and a bored expression saying, "Yo, Sakura, they 5th wants you, Tenten, Hyuga and me to go on a little C-ranked mission." He motioned to the bun-haired kunochi and her quiet teammate in turn. Tenten looked like she was about to throw a kunai at the next person who asked her anything, while Neji, looked quite calm but still giving off a darker than normal aura.

Now her she was not three hours later, gasping for air and about to warn her leader about invading ninja's. Terrific.

The pink-haired girl felt her stomach twist at the idea of losing her home; the home that so many ninja's before her had died to save. No, she wouldn't make their sacrifice in vain, no matter how bad she felt at the moment.

Shaking her head at the dark thoughts plaguing her mind, she gathered the last of her strength and pushed open the heavy doors of the hokage's door.

"Lady Tsunade! We stumbled across some enemy ninja's, and they're planning an invasion of Kohona tomorrow at daybreak!" Her voice echoed in the small room.

Her jade green eyes fell onto the hokage staring, no _glaring_, at a full bottle of sake in front of her, an extremely shell-shocked Naruto, who was glaring at a foreboding dark figure. But as soon as Sakura crashed in, Naruto's eyes immediately shot to her. His eyes widen in horror at her expression. Sakura turned to look at who ever had captured Naruto's attention, but her weariness finally caught up to her and all she saw before she blacked out was a streak of raven colored hair and cold onyx eyes.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as his pink-haired best friend's eyes rolled back into her head and fell forward.

Before Naruto could react the dark haired male had instinctively shot forward, faster than humanly possible and caught her in what was slow motion to him. His arm had braced her back while the other had caught her around her torso. He held her with ease a few inches from the floor and he gently pulled her back up, her head lulling to the side. The ramen-loving ANBU member let out a low menacing growl.

Letting Naruto take her into his arms, the man stepped back and just remarked, "Calm down dobe, remember she once was my teammate too. Beside," he continued shrugging nonchalantly, "it was only a reflex."

He stared down at his slightly shorter former teammate who glared harshly back.

Still feeling rather defiant of Sakura, Naruto looked down at his teammate with a frown. "That's right, you _once_ were her teammate. That was a long time ago. You have no idea what's happened in six years you've been gone."

He studied her still somewhat child-like face; it had lost some of the roundness of her twelve-year-old face. Now it was covered in dirt and some patches of blood. He wasn't sure if it was her own or someone else's. But he did catch the deep clean cut that ran along her check. There was also nasty bruise welling up on her check. It was swelling and turning a dark shade of purple. Then he saw another long cut across her shoulder, which was much deeper. He wasn't sure if the cuts would get infected or not, but right now that wasn't his main problem. And judging by the fact she had fainted with such minor injuries, it was apparent that she'd used up some major chakra reserves. This obviously wasn't some simple little C-ranked mission.

Letting some of the nine tail foxes seal slip within him he growled, "Tsunade, you old hag! What the hell happened? What kind of C-ranked mission did you send her on?" His eyes were flashing with anger and he hunched over his friend in a protective manner.

From where she'd been quietly observing the whole time, Tsunade spoke haggardly, head resting in her hand. "She, Tenten, Neji, and Shikamaru were assigned to patrol our borders in case anything was stirring." Looking back down at her knocked out apprentice she sighed, "I guess they found something."

"No shit, Sherlock. What was your first clue?" Naruto asked sarcastically. He didn't need to glance over at the only other occupant of the room to know that he was rolling his eyes.

The next thing the three conscious and one unconscious occupants of the room were interrupted by the door being flung open to reveal an anxious Lee, a furious Ino, and a tense Kakashi standing in the doorframe. It looked like quite a tight squeeze. Tsunade just propped her head on her hands and sighed. _Great,_ she thought unhappily, _just what I need_ more_ interruptions_.

"We came as soon as Shikamaru, Tenten and Neji came through the gates! Where's fore-head?" Ino shrieked. Her hands were clenched at her sides, eyes blazing.

Beside her Lee spotted the medic ninja and wailed in a slightly girlish voice, "Sakura-chaaannnnnnn! My precious blossom!"

Kakashi just had an oddly exasperated look at the two ninjas but when he looked at his former student his eyes lost any emotion, except for grief. For once he had his perverted book tucked away, signaling that this was a serious matter. His voice was calm as he stated, "I wanted to know how she was when I saw those three coming through the gate, these two," he said motioning to each of the ninjas beside him. "Insisted on coming with me."

Suddenly an irritated voice came from Lee as he looked at the lone chicken-butt haired male in the room.

"What are you doing here?"

Tsunade inwardly cursed before giving in and reached for her full sake bottle, drowning it all in one long gulp. She had a feeling this was going to be a long, long day that was somehow going to lead to a ton of paperwork.


End file.
